VIRGINIA: Schools Block Pro-Gay Websites, Allow "Ex-Gay" Hate Sites

The ACLU has given Virginia's Prince William County two weeks to respond to their demand that schools stop blocking pro-LGBT youth websites.

The ACLU recognizes the need to screen out the heavy-duty adult stuff, their Virginia executive director Kent Willis said Tuesday. “But if you’re going to allow the Key Club and many other organizations to access the Internet, then you have to allow the gay and lesbian clubs to do so too.” The ACLU’s letter to Prince William says their system blocks out sites such as the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Day of Silence and It Gets Better, which provide support and resources for homosexual students. But it allows access to sites such as People Can Change, Exodus International and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, which all advocate for changing from gay to straight.

The ACLU has sent the same letter to school districts in Michigan, Texas, and Pennsylvania - all of whom use the same blocking service as Prince William County.

ACLU To Schools: Don't Filter Gay Sites

The ACLU has issued a call for help in finding schools that block gay-positive websites but allow anti-gay hate sites.

FLORIDA: Gov. Rick Scott Appoints "Christians Only" Activist To Head State Agency On Adoptions

Florida Gov. Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott has appointed Christian activist David Wilkins to head the state Department of Children and Families, which is in charge of adoptions. Wilkins is the former head of a Baptist adoption agency which states that only "professed Christians" are eligible for consideration as parents. Gay rights groups are concerned that Scott's move signals an intent to overturn the recent advances for gay families in Florida. The Miami Herald reports:

Some children's advocates find Wilkins' ties to fundamentalist religious groups unsettling, particularly coming only months after a Miami appeals court declared unconstitutional a Florida law -- the only one of its kind in the U.S. -- that banned adoption by gay men and lesbians. Both Sheldon and then-Attorney General Bill McCollum chose not to appeal the Third District Court of Appeal's ruling to the Florida Supreme Court, saying the decision held sway throughout the state. Sheldon ordered his leadership team to cease enforcing the ban. But Wilkins and Scott could challenge the Miami ruling by refusing to allow a gay man or woman to adopt elsewhere in the state -- which could trigger an appeal to the state's highest court. On its website, the Baptist Children's Home says that "in order to adopt through the Florida Baptist Children's Homes we require that you be a professing Christian, be active in a local Christian church, and follow a lifestyle that is consistent with the Christian faith.'' Howard Simon, head of of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which represented Martin Gill in his successful challenge to the law banning gays and lesbians from adopting, said, ``we're certainly concerned about whether this might mean the state might try to undo our historic adoption victory."

RELATED: Today Florida parent Martin Gill and his partner were able to finally officially adopt their two foster sons. It was Gill's ACLU-backed lawsuit that overturned Florida's ban on gay adoption.